OCR Text |
Show THE LEADER. Thursday. May 21. 1953 Tremonton, Utah COURTESY on the HIGHWAY By JEANNE COOMBS First place winner in the Fronk Chevrolet Company Safety Essay Contest "I am a little thing with a 1 big meaning. help everybody. I unlock doors, open hearts, dit):l prejuice. I create friendship and good will. I inspire respect and admiration. Everybody loves me. I bore nobody. I violate no law. I cost nothing. Many have praised ine, none have condemned me. I am pleasing to those of high and low degree. I am useful every moment of the day. I am courtesy." If we would all let courtesy ride with us when driving the automobile down the high-wwe wouldn't have need of such epitaphs as the following: "At sixty per He took the curve A car swung out He coulden't swerve The other guy Was wrong, they say But the smear starts At two today." In most accidents, the cause is not mechanical defects but lack of courtesy on the part of the driver. Ninety percent of the trouble lies with the one at the wheel. Not just those under the influence of liquor, but also those who become intoxicated with the sense of power the moment they get behind the steering wheel; those who. get so cocky they believe they are immune to accidents; those who feel they have the over everybody; those who think it's adventure to flirt with death by wild driving; those who become carelsss and forget to be courteous. So many people get the complex the moment they climb into the driver's seat. Maybe it's the only time they can relax from the trials of everyday life. Usually, when they start feeling this way, they indulge in speeding and disregard safety warnings. They're not only putting their own lives in danger but also the lives of others and the cour-tou- s person never forgets the Tights of others. aj right-of-wa- big-sh- y ot WAKi dlo M$-- m Seventy five percent of the smash-up- s occur on openi Straight roads. fatal Good roads, good lights and efficient traffic control a r all essential but their effect lis limited. The only thing most desperately needed in the will to drive carefully and courtes Judge Phaff, who is known as one of the outstanding traf fic judges in the United States opens each session with twenty minute talk on what he calls "Golden Rule Driving.' He points out that a split sec ond and a bit of bad luck can turn a "minor" violation into a fatal accident which might cost a person his home, job freedom and perhaps family. He 6ets forth the two simple rules, of safety: slow down and prac tice driving courteously. Reporter Almena Davis o? the Los Angeles Tribune, when taken to court before Judge, Phaff, paid her money, then, walked out and obeyed the, judge's injunction to "go ye, and preach the word" by, writ ing a two column feature which read in part as follows: "At first, we thought your sentence of jail was overly stern, but as I consider it further, I have come to the conclusion that it was for the best. A fine is easily forgotten, but three days in jail will never be for gotten. I can assure you, sir. that all of us now rrive more carefully and courteously." n Let us all stage a campaign, starting with our- selves to make good driving the smart thing to do. If we apply the Golden Rule "Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you," we will truly become courteous drivers and be nearer our goal of keeping graveyards and hospitals empty of motorcar traffic accidents in 19f0. Nearly 20,000 people died in the dark in the night-tim- e Over 750,000 were injured in the hours from dusk to dawn. Last year these casualties went still higher. Night accidents are one of the greatest factors in the increasing highway death toll. Fatigue, poor illumination, headlight glare, faulty vision, and the greater number of dangerous drinking drivers at night are the major causes of this tragic nocturnal record. e fatalities is "highway hypAnother big factor in both night and nosis." On long drives over smooth, unending roads the steady hypnotic monotony of humming wheels lulls drivers into a dangerous mental blank. Alertness gone, reactions at a low ebb, the worst can happen and does. What do you do when you become drowsy while driving? Safe drivers, recognizing the danger signal, pull off the road and relax. Perhaps they stop for a cup of coffee and stretch their legs, or let someone else ike the wheel. They know, as every good driver knows, that safety demands alert driving, particularly at night when the killing rate per vehicle is as much as four times greater in proportion to traffic volume than it is in the daytime. When you are driving in a fog of fatigue pull over! Wake up, or die! day-tim- one-ma- Sunday guests at the Garland Puzey home included Mrs. Puz- ey's mother, Mrs. Elva Bezzant and sisters Mrs. Verl Bishop of Murray and Mrs. Thayne Pearce of Magna, with their husbands and families. MM? Drive As Though Your Life Depends On It - IT DOiSI |